The end of a lovely Xmas day up at George and Russell's beachhouse in Mahurangi with a beautiful sunset

Xmas day this year was up at George and Russell's beach house in Mahurangi. The day started out at 315am with a VERY excited Harry waking to see what Santa had brought him. Needless to say he was made to go back to sleep even though he managed to snore and still keep us awake before waking every so often to ask if Xmas had started yet. By about 6 am we gave up and so it began. Harry was beside himself with excitement and loved opening all of his presents. Reubs also loved it and there was paper everywhere. We had a lovely breakfast of Sabato pastries, fresh fruit, homemade granola and good yoghurt before George and I set to to finish off the Xmas lunch preparations. I'll blog about the food properly later on as I managed to get a couple of photos...not high on the list of priorities when you have lunch to prepare on top of a couple of glasses of bubbly! However in a nutshell we had.... glazed ham, boneless turkey stuffed with a cranberry stuffing, boneless leg of lamb done on the BBQ, potatoes roasted in duck fat, a really lovely roasted kumara and avocado salad, a fresh seafood salad, a 'red' salad and bread rolls. For dessert we had a chocolate and cherry trifle, pavlova with strawberries and blueberries, stained glass window jelly and a yule log. We also had homemade Xmas mince pies and pecan tarts too as well as plenty of bubbly and wine. So needless to say we were stuffed full. Thankfully the weather on the day improved after lunch as it had been a bit windy and overcast so we were able to have a swim in the pool and walk the dog. Overall a lovely Xmas day which would have been perfect if all the family had of been able to be there.

As a quick aside Boxing day has been wonderful. Perfect hot and sunny weather with lots of swims in the pool, lazing around and eating leftovers with a obligatory trip to the Big Red Shed in Snell's Beach for the boys to spend some of their Xmas money. After a fair bit of drama from Harry with a bleeding tooth, it finally fell out! So this photo was taken after the tears over the blood.

My name is Megan and I live in Auckland with my partner Dons and two sons Reuben and Harry. I started this blog because I love to bake and cook...although I have to say that baking is my real passion. I work in NICU and work a lot of night shifts which means that I always have somewhere to take my baking (so I don't eat it all). I hope you enjoy my blog.